Daf: Sotah 42-44 - Hockey sticks, Shma, Jobs and Women in the Military

As always, please read with a gemara in front of you.

42a
Note the Rambam on the mishnah, describing a military precursor of the hockey stick in his explanation of קלגסין.

Why is reciting Shema morning and evening considered to be such a crucial merit on behalf of the Jewish people? It might be the declaration of faith, but it also might be the passage of gemara in Menachot 99b which views the morning and evening Shema-recitation as fulfillment of the mitzvah of studying Torah in the morning and evening, a merit which supports Heaven and Earth themselves (אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי).

Note that according to the gemara's order of the wartime border-speech and battle-speech, the Torah's presentation of the two speeches is backward.


42b
As was noted by an attendee here at the Daf in Allentown, the connection between Arpah and the Plishtim is odd; Arpah was, after all, a Moabitess (א:ד - ויקחו להם נשים מואביות), and she is described by Naami as returning home (א:טו אל עמה)!


43b
Note the debate between Rashash and Maharshal, related to Rashi ומאי שנא ילדה בילדה.


44a
The gemara here says that participants in an illicit marriage are liable only once they live together sexually. This matches the Sefer Chasidim (שפג), in his comment that the idea of Bashert – that marriages are predestined – isn't really about marriage but rather is a predestination that a certain man and woman will be together sexually.

The gemara's suggested order for developing one's life is (1st) House, then (2nd) Finding a livelihood, and then (3rd) Getting married. This fits the order of the pesukim in the Torah, in the section on war (Devarim 20).
On the other hand, the Rambam (Mishneh Torah Hilchot Deiot 5:11) presents the order as (1) Livelihood, then (2) House, and then (3) Getting married, following the order of the Tochacha-curses in Devarim 24.
The Kesef Mishnah explains that the first two can be in either order; the point is to do them before marrying.
The Maaseh Rokeiach offers another approach: The Torah's example of a livelihood is in harvesting a vineyard, for which one must wait through 4 harvests before first being permitted to eat the grapes. Therefore, one starts with the vineyard/livelihood, then gets the house, and then is able to enjoy the fruits of the vineyard/livelihood – all before getting married.


44b
Note that the gemara mentions a bride going to war, and the Rambam cites this as law (Mishneh Torah Hilchot Melachim 7:4) – since when do we have female soldiers recommended in the gemara?
The Tiferet Yisrael (on our mishnah) and the Radvaz (on the Rambam) both suggest that this refers to providing support in preparing the roads and supplying the army.

The gemara’s example of a violation of a rabbinic law is that of speaking between donning the arm and head tefillin. Among other answers, some suggest this is because the soldier must combine his strength and his Torah wisdom – and he cannot have any interruption between them.

Daf: Nazir 59-63 - Women, Weapons and non-Jewish nazirites

Getting toward the end of Nazir here. Some very interesting discussions of cross-dressing, as well as women carrying weapons, and a non-Jewish nazir.

59a
The discussion of cross-dressing and of women carrying (let alone wielding) weapons of war begs the question of Yael the Keini’s actions in killing Sisera. Pseudo-Rashi here offers the standard explanation, that this is why Yael used a tent peg rather than a dagger. It isn’t clear that the whole story is a problem in the first place, though, since Yael, it may be argued, was not Jewish. This is subject to the debate of whether Yitro, Yael’s ancestor, returned home and converted his family, or not.
Note that when the Jews went to war against Amalek under Shaul in Shemuel II 15, they asked the Keini to move away from Amalek first. It certainly sounds as though the Keini did not consider themselves Jewish.
For more on the issue of women and weapons of war, see Abarbanel on Devorah, as well as Tzitz Eliezer 20:31:1 on Devorah. See also Targum to Shoftim 5:26 on Yael. For modern applications, see Yechaveh Daat 5:55, Igrot Moshe 4:9 and 4:75:3, and Tzitz Eliezer 18:63.

See Tosafot חזינא and ההוא, and the Rosh, regarding the status of scissors for male shaving of פיאות.

The title of בר פחתי is, of course, reminiscent of הקריבהו נא לפחתך. The word פחה is linked to pasha, I believe.

59b
See the Rosh explaining how this was supposed to sharpen the minds of the students.

60b
The last five lines on the page appear to be a restatement of what we know from before? Noet that the Rosh has לישנא אחרינא here.

61a
I am troubled by the statement, from the Erchin discussion, that בני ישראל is global rather than Jewish-specific – it’s only because of the additional word איש that we are able to say it is universal in the ערכין case! But I’ve never found an answer for this.

61b
Tosafos quotes a pasuk to show that an עכו"מ does not have the פרה אדומה ritual.

Lest anyone ask how the Torah could legislate such a prohibition for an עכו"מ, outside the 7 mitzvos bnei noach, I’d point out that we have prohibitions against עכו"מ learning Torah (Sanhedrin 59a) and observing Shabbat (Sanhedrin 58b).

62b
Note, on the first mishnah, that when the אדון forces the עבד כנעני to break his vow and drink, the vow remains binding such that when the עבדות ends, the vow is reinstated. (Rosh, and gemara later)

Note the reversal of the names of Abbaye and Rava. This is standard, based on the idea that since Abbaye started out as Rava’s rebbe, he does not respond to Rava’s ideas, but rather Rava responds to his. Sometimes Rava’s name is edited to “Rabbah” for the same reason.

63a
The use of רגלים לדבר here is odd. The phrase means that we have observed an event or a fact which indicates that certain results or associated events/facts are also likely. It comes from the term רגל as “cause” (as well as “foot,” much as עקב is also “cause” as well as “heel”). Here, though, the term רגלים לדבר doesn’t fit. The Rosh notes as much.